Broncos followers, advice on Ashley Lelie

[FrogMan]

My main fantasy draft starts tomorrow. It's a 16 teams league where we keep 8 players, so the draft pool is pretty thin. Usually, the first two rounds, maybe the third if you get lucky, is where you can get your hand on some talent.

The scoring system is pretty basic with points both for yards and scores, no bonuses for receptions.

Here are my keepers if you really care:
QB Brady, Tom NE
QB Warner, Kurt STL
RB Duckett, T.J. ATL
RB Thomas, Anthony CHI
RB Barlow, Kevan SF
WR Driver, Donald GB
WR Jackson, Darrell SEA
DST Steelers PIT

We start the following: 1QB, 1RB, 1RB/WR, 1WR, 2WR/TE, 1K, 1DST. So basically you can go 2RB+3WR or 1RB+4WR, but not 3RB+2WR...

As I said, the talent pool is kinda thin, even though our salary cap forced two owners to drop QBs Favre and Garcia, but I don't need a QB. Players have salaries that increase every year depending on your team's performance (win-loss percentage) and the player's performance.

Anyway, among available players of interest are the following:
RBs
Buckhalter, Correll RB PHI
Smith, Onterrio RB MIN
Mack, Stacey RB HOU
Bettis, Jerome RB PIT

WRs
Johnson, Keyshawn WR TB
Rogers, Charles WR DET
Lelie, Ashley WR DEN
Galloway, Joey WR DAL
Muhammad, Muhsin WR CAR
Morton, Johnnie WR KC
Patten, David WR NE
Smith, Steve WR CAR

Since I have more WR spots to cover, I'm thinking I'll go with a WR. With that in mind, I'm interested in going for the future, so to guys I like: Charles Rogers and Ashley Lelie. Rogers is probably a season or two from breaking through, and he'll through tough times with Harrington before it gets any better. Lelie, on the other hand could breakthrough this season.

My question for the Denver guys around here, or simply anybody who follows the Broncos a little, is this: Will Lelie take over the second spot on the Broncos WR depth chart, and if so do you think he could have a good season this season?

Thanks. Also, comments about the league and/or my team are appreciated.

FM
PS: when I said my draft "starts" tomorrow, it's because we are still doing it the good old way, with pick lists sent by email I have the 5th pick, so it's really not a certainty that either of these guys will still be there...

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm not a close follower of the Broncos, but from all of the sports talk shows I listen to as well as the preseason games I've seen: Leslie looks very good. I think he will likely take Ed's starting spot at some point this season, likely sooner then later. My only real concern with Leslie is that Plummer may not pan out and a WR is only as good as the QB who gets them the ball. That fact might be the reason I would lean towards Rogers, but it is hard to predict how quickly he and Harrington will develop timing.

[FrogMan]

thanks doc, I see you understood my point about the keeper thing and going for the future.

FM

[TroyF]

I do follow the Broncos. Lelie may end up with more yards and TD's than Smith. He's that good.

TroyF

[Hawaii Warrior]

Funny how everyone is now talking about a kid that was a former walkon and was basically a nobody coming out of high school. I've had the pleasure of watching him for 3 years. He's an amazing FOOTBALL player.

[FrogMan]

for the two of you wondering, I ended up getting Lelie in round 1 He was the number 1 player on my 5 players list.

Here are the results for round 1. Keep in mind this is an 8 keepers league, so this is basically like the 9th round with some extra players (all rookies and players not kept because of salary cap reasons)...

      Round 1 -- SUNDAY, Aug 31, 9PM EST $20
      -------- 
      1.01 Charles Rogers, WR DET
      1.02 Andre Johnson, WR HOU
      1.03 Kyle Boller, QB BAL
      1.04 Correll Buckhalter, RB PHI
      1.05 Ashley Lelie, WR DEN
      1.06 Brett Favre, QB GB
      1.07 Onterrio Smith, RB MIN
      1.08 Jeff Garcia, QB SF
      1.09 Michael Bennett, RB MIN
      1.10 Carson Palmer, QB CIN
      1.11 Stacey Mack, RB HOU
      1.12 Jabar Gaffney, WR HOU
      1.13 Sebastian Janikowski, K OAK
      1.14 Justin Fargas, RB OAK
      1.15 Byron Leftwich, QB BAL
      1.16 Rex Grossman, QB CHI

Picks I don't understand: Fargas at 14, Janikowski in the first round, Grossman at 16...

FM

[Darkiller]

I drafted Lelie on my fantasy team this year and I'm currently thinking of making him a starter at WR..
what do you think ? should I ?

My other WR are
- Santana Moss
- Torry Holt
- Ike Hilliard
- Javon Walker

I would say Torry Holt is pretty much a lock as the #1 receiver here, but it's quite a dilemma for the 2nd spot which is up for grabs..Any opinions are welcome.

[FrogMan]

given your WRs, I'd also be tempted to start Lelie.

Holt is definitely your #1 guy.
Walker lost the 2nd WR spot in GB to Robert Ferguson. May win it back at some point, but right now, is not as good an option.
Moss is the 3rd option in New York, behind Coles and Chrebet, and with Testaverde coming back at the helm, I'm not too sure about him...

That leaves us with Ike Hilliard, who will see more and more of his targetted pass go to Shockey...

Lelie, if he's really the second wideout in Denver righaway, could be a good bet for you...

Just my opinion of course...

FM

[Eaglesfan27]

Darkiller - Shockey has broken rib, so that might slow him down for a while. Given that, and the fact that Lelie is not yet the number 2 receiver, I would start Hillard for a week or two. Ike has reportedly looked great in training camp and seems to be developing a nice repoire with Collins. However, as soon as Lelie becomes the number 2 receiver, I would start him instead.


FM, in reference to your last post, I would take Janikowski around the 100th pick (which it was the equivalent with your 8 keeper league), but I would only take him after Akers and Feely. Justin Fargas is a former Trojan who is very very fast and could be a rising star in a year or two when Charlie Garner is used up, so he might be very good for the future but not much help now.

As far as Grossman goes, I'm with you. I think that is too high of a pick for him, but he some people think he will develop into a star in a year or three.

[FrogMan]

Originally posted by Eaglesfan27
Darkiller - Shockey has broken rib, so that might slow him down for a while. Given that, and the fact that Lelie is not yet the number 2 receiver, I would start Hillard for a week or two. Ike has reportedly looked great in training camp and seems to be developing a nice repoire with Collins. However, as soon as Lelie becomes the number 2 receiver, I would start him instead.


FM, in reference to your last post, I would take Janikowski around the 100th pick (which it was the equivalent with your 8 keeper league), but I would only take him after Akers and Feely. Justin Fargas is a former Trojan who is very very fast and could be a rising star in a year or two when Charlie Garner is used up, so he might be very good for the future but not much help now.

As far as Grossman goes, I'm with you. I think that is too high of a pick for him, but he some people think he will develop into a star in a year or three.

I'm just reading about Shockey's broken rib. From what I read, he may not even play in the opener. Good call, doc!

About Janikowski, it's just that I'm not a very high picker of kickers. I usually wait a bit longer, like in the third round. Akers was a keeper, so not available, but Feely is still available. Not sure I'm as high on Feely with Vick out for that long period of time. The Falcons may not score as much with Johnson in there...

Thanks for the info on Fargas, I sincerely didn't know anything about him and I have not scouted the RB position as much as the WRs. Also, even though this is a very deep keeper league, I'm not always ready to draft a player that may be good "in a season or two". I usually want something pretty much from teh start. Which leads me to the Grossman pick and that one I understand even less. The guy that drafted him already has Jay Fiedler and Joey Harrington on his squad, so it's not like he needed to have a 3rd one tagging along... Anyway, that's just how I see it...

FM

[Darkiller]

ok thanks for the inputs guys.